Buying tamales by the dozen in DFW: bulk orders, delivery, and pricing

A dozen of my tamales is $60, a half-dozen is $30, and there is no upper limit on how many dozens you can order as long as you give the kitchen time to make them. Bulk orders by the dozen are how churches, school groups, sports teams, and fundraisers in north Dallas feed a crowd without hiring a caterer, and they are a big part of what my family kitchen does every week.

This guide covers what a dozen actually is, how the pricing works at volume, how a bulk order is different from a catering order, who orders this way, and how the tamales get from my steamer in Richardson to your church hall in McKinney still hot.

What you get in a dozen

Twelve full-size tamales, in their husks, in one of two kinds: pork in red salsa or chicken breast in green tomatillo salsa. You can order a dozen of one kind or split it, and for a big order I can do any mix of dozens you like. All of them are made with gluten-free masa, from scratch, the morning they go out.

The word “full-size” is doing work in that sentence. A reviewer once described ours as “huge” and “packed with meat,” and I have watched a grown man be defeated by three. When you are planning how many dozens you need, count on two tamales per person as a meal with sides and three without, not the four to six that recipe sites assume for little market tamales. My article on how many tamales per person has the full chart.

Pricing by the dozen

The delivery menu has three sizes, and the math is simple:

• Three big tamales, $15. A plate, a lunch, a taste before you commit to fifty dozen.
• Half-dozen, $30. The family size, and the piece that lets you order for 27 people instead of 36.
• One dozen, $60. Five dollars a tamal. This is the unit bulk orders are built from.

That is the whole price list, and I publish it because I want you to be able to do the math at your kitchen table before you call. When you order many dozens for an event, I put the whole thing in a written quote so you see exactly what you are paying for. I do not quote package prices in an article because every event is a little different, but the per-dozen figure is the anchor and it does not move around on you.

Bulk order versus catering order

People use the words interchangeably, and in my kitchen the tamales are identical either way. The difference is everything around them.

If your event has volunteers and folding tables, bulk is almost always the right call. If you want the food to arrive as a finished meal with sides and someone to set it up, that is catering, and the catering hub explains the packages. Either way you order the same way: through the quote form or a phone call, and I confirm it personally.

Who orders tamales by the dozen

Churches and community groups

A church supper, a Sunday after-service lunch, a parish festival. The kitchen ladies handle the rice and the tea, and I handle the tamales. I box them by the dozen so the count is easy, and I send extra salsa because church crowds like it.

Schools, PTAs, and teacher appreciation

Teacher appreciation week is one of my favorite orders of the year. A PTA parent calls, tells me forty staff, and I send four dozen with salsas and a note. The staff eat in the lounge between classes, which is why bulk in husks works better than a plated lunch: a tamal waits patiently and reheats without complaint.

Sports teams and booster clubs

Team dinners before a game, booster-club concession stands, end-of-season banquets. Teenage athletes eat three each, sometimes four. I tell every booster parent to round up.

Fundraisers

Tamale sales are a long Texas tradition, and a lot of groups buy from me by the dozen and resell them to raise money for a trip, a mission, or a uniform fund. I do not set your resale price and I would not presume to, but I will tell you the honest per-dozen cost, help you plan the count, and box them so they are easy to hand out. Groups doing this should read the bulk tamales page first; it is written for exactly this.

Big families and holidays

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year are tamale season in Texas, and families who used to spend two days rolling their own now order five or ten dozen and spend the day together instead. Those weeks fill early. Get your name on the holiday pre-order list as soon as you know you are hosting.

How a bulk order is delivered

We are a delivery kitchen, not a restaurant, so every dozen arrives at your address. Here is what that looks like for a large order:

1. Made that morning. Masa mixed, meats cooked, tamales rolled and steamed in big pots. Nothing is frozen and thawed.
2. Packed hot. Dozens go into deep foil pans or boxes with the husks on, which is how tamales hold heat best. Salsas ride separately in covered containers.
3. Delivered by our own people. Armando and Juan, who get thanked by name in our reviews, bring the order in, set it where you want it, and count it with you.
4. Delivered across north DFW. Richardson, Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Dallas and the suburbs between. A church in Frisco can check the Frisco catering page for its own details.

The kitchen runs Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 9 AM–2 PM. If you need a Sunday event, we plan the order for Saturday and I show you how to hold and reheat, which brings me to the next section.

Keeping fifty dozen hot, and what to do with the rest

Bulk orders usually feed people over a couple of hours, so holding heat matters more than it does for a sit-down meal. What works:

• Leave them in the husks and keep the pans covered. A covered foil pan of tamales stays hot far longer than people expect.
• A chafing rack with a water pan holds a pan at serving temperature for hours. Ask me to bring them if your hall does not have any.
• A slow cooker on warm, with a splash of water in the bottom, is the home version. Stand the tamales upright, lid on.
• Put out one pan at a time. The pan in the kitchen stays hot; the pan on the table is the one that cools. Swap them.

And then there are the leftovers, which are the best argument for rounding up. Tamales freeze better than almost any party food: husks on, wrapped in foil or a freezer bag, laid flat. They steam straight from frozen and taste like the day they were made. I wrote a whole guide on freezing and storing tamales, and a church group that ends up with three extra dozen has just solved lunch for the office volunteers for a month.

Ordering in bulk: what to tell me

A bulk order is easier to quote than a catering order, because there are fewer moving parts. When you call or fill in the quote form, this is what I need:

• The date, the address, and the time you want it on the table.
• How many dozens, or a headcount and I will turn it into dozens.
• The pork-to-chicken split. For a mixed crowd I lean sixty-forty toward pork; for a group with more people watching what they eat, closer to even.
• Salsa on or on the side. For groups with kids or spice-shy guests, I do part of the order with salsa on the side.
• Boxed by the dozen for handout, or in pans for a serving line.

The more notice, the better, and holiday weeks fill up early. I do not have a hard cutoff, but a big order fits the kitchen day best when I know about it well ahead. Small orders, a dozen or two for the house, are simplest through DoorDash, and the ordering page explains which path is which.

For a bigger event, tamales by the dozen are the least expensive way I know to feed a lot of people something they will actually talk about. If you want to see how the per-person numbers shake out against other options, my catering budget guide for DFW does the math with real figures. And for very large orders, ask me about other fillings; with notice, I can usually work something out.

Frequently asked questions

How much is a dozen tamales in Dallas?

From my kitchen, a dozen big tamales is $60 on the delivery menu, a half-dozen is $30, and a plate of three is $15. That works out to five dollars a tamal in pork with red salsa or chicken with green salsa. For a bulk order of many dozens I send a written quote so you see the full total before you confirm.

Is there a minimum or maximum order for tamales by the dozen?

You can order a single dozen through DoorDash and it will be at your door like any delivery. For larger bulk orders there is no set ceiling; the limit is how much the kitchen can make in a day, which is why notice matters. Tell me the date and how many dozens, and I will tell you honestly what the kitchen can do.

Do you deliver bulk tamales to churches and schools in DFW?

Yes. Churches, schools, PTAs, sports teams, and fundraising groups across Richardson, Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, and Dallas are a big part of what we do. Tamales arrive hot in their husks, boxed by the dozen or in pans, with salsas in covered containers. Our drivers bring the order in and count it with you.

Can I buy tamales in bulk to resell for a fundraiser?

Many groups do. You buy by the dozen at the published price, set your own resale price, and hand them out to supporters. I box them by the dozen so counting is easy and send salsa to go with them. Give me as much notice as you can, especially around the holidays, and I will help you plan the count so you do not run short.

How do I keep a bulk tamale order hot for a few hours?

Leave the tamales in their husks and keep the foil pans covered. A chafing rack with a water pan holds a pan at serving temperature for hours, and a slow cooker on warm with a splash of water works at home. Put out one pan at a time and keep the rest covered in the kitchen. Freeze any leftovers in their husks and steam them from frozen.